Optical coherence tomography (OCT) using multi-wavelength light-wave interference can obtain tomographic images of specimens (particularly the fundus) at high resolution.
In recent years, ophthalmologic OCT apparatuses have come to acquire polarization sensitive OCT images using polarization parameters (retardation and orientation) which are a type of optical properties of fundus tissue, in addition to normal OCT images where the shape of the fundus tissue is imaged.
A polarization sensitive OCT image can be configured and fundus tissue can be distinguished and segmented using polarization parameters in polarization sensitive OCT. PTL 1 discloses that in polarization sensitive OCT, light which has been modulated into circularly-polarized light is used as measurement light to observe a specimen, and interference light is split as two orthogonal linearly-polarized lights and detected, thereby generating a polarization sensitive OCT image.
PTL 2 discloses storing scanning position information indicating a scanning position of signal light when a tomographic image was formed in the past, to avoid tests with an ophthalmologic OCT apparatus taking a long time, and to alleviate burdensome tasks. PTL 2 discloses that upon eye identification information being input, operation position information correlated with the input identification information is searched, and signal light is scanned based on the searched scanning position information.